Ride the Ribbon - 2019

[Daboo]

I didn't know what "Ride the Ribbon" meant till I got to the "Ride the Ribbon" rally in John Day, Oregon. From what I understand, the "ribbon" isn't just riding in the mountains there, but to ride the roads along the John Day "River". There's a North fork, a Middle fork and a South fork. I said "river" because it looks like more of a creek to me, but it did make for some interesting and fun rivers.








I'm always fascinated by the old barns and houses. In one ride, I saw what at one time was a nice house with the other buildings...derelict. Windows gone. But still, I wonder....what stories those old abandoned buildings would tell if they could? The dreams of the people who built them. The laughter of the children. The hopes of the families as they poured their sweat out in making a life out there.



This is a church from the town of Fox. It stands next to a junkyard. Almost all the stores are abandoned.




The area fascinates me with the rock formations.









The roads in this area are full of twists, turns...and surprises. Yes, that is a Conestoga wagon.



Even if there isn't a "river" to follow, the road has twists and turns to delight any motorcyclists.




As Nancy and I rode out on Monday morning, the sun was coming up and made for some interesting effects.















All the while I was taking this beautiful scenery in and enjoying the curves, I was thinking of how this is available to anyone coming to the National Concours Owners Group rally next year.

Chris

[Daboo]

I think this is called the Little Tail of the Dragon. I slowed down in it. There were some rocks in places. And no guardrails. And frankly, I wanted to see what the scenery was like.





Chris

[Daboo]

Part II.




Chris

[Daboo]

Part III...



Chris

[Daboo]

Part IV...





Chris

[Richard230]

Nice videos, Chris. I have ridden all of those roads over the years while attending the Chief Joseph Rally, which happens at the end of June every year in John Day (the largest town in the county at 1700 residents). During the spring the John Day River lives up more to its name. I am always impressed with the nice job that Oregon does keeping their paved roads in great condition. Although I am less impressed with their chip seal methods when the roads are being resurfaced. Eastern Oregon is a great place to ride motorcycles, with pleasant scenery, nice people who will wave to you as you ride by and very minimal traffic, as noted in your videos.

[Royce]

Thanks Chris. Great pictures. Like Richard, I too have ridden many of these roads in the past few years, but I never knew they had a name. They were simply wonderful motorcycle roads in eastern Oregon. This area is one of my favorite places to ride.

[notacop]

Some places scream for visiting, John Day being one of those. i met Roadpizza in John when I had the chance to make the rally.
Haven't ridden the Ribbons. Seems the 1762 miles to get there and back for the weekend is enough riding. Are these ribbons the major highways in the area or other smaller back roads?

[Daboo]

They are all smaller backroads.

I've spent many thousands of miles this summer in Oregon and Northern California. I started the summer off with a group of Kawasaki Concours riders who travel from British Columbia strictly to enjoy those roads. As they said, we don't have them in Washington. Or at least, not on the western side of the Cascades.

My theory is this. California and Oregon were populated back when people road horse drawn transportation. The communities developed here, there and everywhere. Washington was still pretty much centered around the ports around Seattle and Tacoma. The mountains and dense forests made farming communities more limited. Sometime around the 1940s perhaps, those dirt roads were paved over. California and Oregon had a number of those roads. They weren't "efficient" in terms of getting from Pt A to B, but they had enough switchbacks to allow horses to pull wagons up the hills. Washington, didn't have those inefficient roads, so when they built new roads as the state developed, they were made for efficient (cars) travel. If you look at a map, you'll see towns like Index on Hwy 2 as you head over the Cascades. Sultan. Gold Bar. Baring. They are like dots on a map. Hwy 2 goes through there, but the paved streets in those towns only go about 2-3 streets deep. So we have some wonderful roads...but not for motorcycling like Oregon has.

Chris

[Richard230]

My feeling is that any paved road in eastern Oregon is a "major" road.

[notacop]

"They are all smaller backroads."

I've been checking, even the Cog site and can't find what they are actually referencing what they call the 'ribbon roads'.
Yah got 395 North/South, and 26 East West. is there something else?
On Bing maps I don't see the viable other roads.

[Daboo]

My wife and kids say "any excuse for a party is a good excuse". In the case of the COG group, "any excuse for a twisty ride, is a good excuse". We had one guy riding in from Alberta, and another from Nevada, just to be a part of this. So riding the "ribbon", is probably just a good excuse to ride twisty roads.

One of the requirements in COG, is for each region to have at least three ride events. The BunCooler in Kamiah, Idaho was one. The Lava Run was another. They also did a Volcano Run. This ride wasn't considered "official", only because they didn't buy the insurance for the event.

One of the wonderful things we found was "Come Ride With Us" maps. https://comeridewithus.net There's six different maps designed for motorcycling. Purple is freeways, red is paved roads and blue is dirt/gravel roads.



The blue circle is where the videos were taken. The yellow circles are just examples of the motorcycle specific comments they include.

Here's a portion of the inReach map for the weekend. On the live portion, it allows you to click on a dot and get more info. My wife informed me that I was going over 70 mph in one place. Oops!



Chris

[Richard230]

Both those roads and that first map look very familiar.

[scf]

In honor of this thread I wore one of my Chief Joseph Rally hats today, the grey 2012 one.
And i’ll Second the great riding in the Eastern Oregon outback.

[notacop]

Yo, I gots a maroon hat from 2010 Chief Joseph. Good place for a rally and one gets to meet with riders from other locales.
It's been too long since i was able to attend. My, how time flies.